Welcome to Right as Rain Soapery where delightful aromas meet handmade perfection. I am a proud native of the Lehigh Valley, and even named one of my sugar scrubs to represent our home… “In the Valley”.
This is the place to immerse yourself in a world of handcrafted luxurious Foaming Sugar Scrubs in seasonal and traditional scents.
My mission is to consistently improve myself, so my soap products become better as each day passes. To ensure all ingredients are safe, high-quality, and to the expectations of my customers.
The local brewers of McCall Collective sell more than just “beer.”
Have you ever hosted guests from out of town and wished you had a gift to give them… from your town?
There are tons of reasons why people might want to give locally-produced gifts at times.
Overnight wedding guests
Out-of-town college students
Business partners from out of town
New home buyers
Visiting and prospecting business people
Sentimental gifts for people who already live here
There are probably dozens of ideas, but these are just a few of the more popular ones we’ve encountered since starting to promote local goods. I’ve had my own meaningful experience with local gift-giving… may I share a quick story?–
Birkenstock
When I was a student at Northampton High School, I participated in their German partnership program. I stayed with a family in Bad Endbach for a week. Interestingly, the dad of my exchange family worked at a Birkenstock office (they make the most AMAZING sandals!), and on my last day at their home, he gave me a pair of Birkenstocks.
Let me tell you– I treasured those sandals. I wore them EVERYWHERE. They took me through my entire educational career at Penn State. I wore them even when they didn’t quite match the occasion, because they meant something to me. They reminded me of my amazing trip, they were like a piece of my exchange home and family, walking through my future with me. I am not a very sentimental person, but the fact that Mr. Von Borstel brought me something from their town, put this gift in a whole other category.
Most of the time when we talk about gift-giving here at Made in the Lehigh Valley, we focus on the special-ness of handmade goods. But locally manufactured goods are just as wonderful! Whether you are throwing a party with out of town guests, or hosting someone from another country, it means something to give a gift that’s made here.
Dare we say, there is extra monetary value?
Lesa Ukman, giving a presentation on valuation of Social Capital at the LVACA conference in May 2024.
Social Capital
How do you quantify the extra sentimental or emotional or societal value of an object… if you can’t measure it in dollars? Recently at the Lehigh Valley Arts and Cultural Alliance‘s Conference, entrepreneur Lesa Ukman gave a speech about measuring what she called “Social Capital”– that extra UMPH that gives arts and cultural activities value. It’s hard to put your finger on… but you know the value is there, and it’s WORTH A LOT. (Lesa’s company, ProSocial Valuation Service, developed an equation to give monetary value to all of this “immeasurable” — how cool is that??)
As we were watching Lesa’s presentation, I was having a huge, ardent conversation in my head with myself. (Actually, it wasn’t a polite conversation… I was just shouting at myself.) THIS. THIS is what Made in the Lehigh Valley is all about! When we think about giving gifts, locally-made ones have EXTRA… pizazz. They have heart or something… way more than imported gifts! The “localness” is valuable. When you search on Etsy fine art prints to hang in your new home, sure the prices of out-of-state photographers’ prints may be cheaper, but they are missing that… that… social capital. There is worth in having an art print that was photographed by someone in the Lehigh Valley.
Using our Site for Gift-giving
OK, so here’s the good news. We are very, VERY lucky, because the Lehigh Valley makes an incredible array of items, from delicious candies to the most beautiful art. When you are here, you are surrounded by talented, creative, entrepreneurial people who are just dying for you to see what they make.
Now, your only challenge and last hurdle– is finding those people and their brands.
At Made in the Lehigh Valley, our goal is to make it EASY for you to harness the power of local gift-giving, no matter what the occasion. If someone wants to give special, local presents, whether they are arts, crafts, or manufactured products, it shouldn’t be a massive undertaking to find fun ideas. Madeinthelehighvalley.com is here to do all the legwork for you and make it easy for you to find that perfect thing.
So go ahead, make that Lehigh Valley gift basket! Browse our amazing artists. Find new brands. Have FUN, and know that whoever receives that gift, is receiving more than just objects.
Have you ever stopped to consider how different maker businesses are from other businesses? We hope to dig a little into why makers are hard to find, but before we answer that, let’s talk about why people make.
Makers Gonna Make…
Maker businesses are perhaps some of the oldest and varied businesses in the planet. Since the beginning of societies, humans have been making and trading items. The tradition continues today, even as so many people lose their attention spans to the internet, others persist in nobler causes, and devote countless hours to making objects, hoping to be compensated (FAIRLY) for the time they put in.
But some things have changed a bit from our primitive days. Our society has gotten a LOT more sprawling, both geographically and through technology. A village crafter in a Medieval town would be known throughout the town, and customers would stop by and purchase goods as needed. Nowadays, however, many craftsmen work, hidden in the recesses of their home workshops, known only by their friends and fans. Their private home addresses are NOT their business addresses. In fact, they don’t even have a business address. They have a website (on the worldwide web), at BEST. Some have pretty good social media, but it was surprising to us recently, to meet many craftsmen who don’t have a website, don’t have social media, and literally only have a single day or two’s presence at a market… every year.
Bangor’s goats milk soapmaker, Hens on the Hill, has great social media! …and still has to field questions weekly about “where to find local goats milk soap”… It makes us want to tear our hair out.
The Nature of the Internet
So, here we are in 2024, with our talented makers hidden and overworked, trying to be seen, appreciated, and recognized on a GLOBAL stage. And who is the emcee of the global stage? Google.
Oh, Google.
Let’s remember, Google is a tech company. Google is pretty amazing, but Google is algorithms. And Google loves money, has a lot of it, and wants more of it. Google has allies in all spheres, whether political, economical, and geographical. So, pardon me while I state my humble opinion: Google does not give TWO HOOTS about the Lehigh Valley community and our makers.
To ingratiate yourself with a company like Google, you have to 1) Have a lot of time and patience to build your business around their system and 2) Have a lot of technological skills to optimize your business to their system. Makers… spend their time making. Makers’ skills are primarily in their art. Unless a maker is multitalented and has lots of hired help, how exactly are they supposed to do this? The sad fact is, many of them can’t and aren’t.
Local author Frank Stangle signs books at a summer vendor fair.
Etsy… *sigh*
Etsy is another company that is sort of the co-emcee of the handmakers’ arena. They did a fair job, til they started: giving search preference to free shipping and “sponsored” ads, allowing international makers to copy and plagiarize works of art and sell them for cheaper on Etsy, allowing people to sell A.I. products, and charging higher and higher commissions (as if makers really have that much of a margin to lose). If you want to learn all of the ways that Etsy has let artists and crafters down, just do a quick search on Youtube and you will find rant videos galore..
It can be confusing to navigate around all of the ads in Etsy and find local makers instead.
These aren’t the only problems, though– From a consumer perspective, Etsy is much harder to use than you might realize. The location filter is not available in all searches, the location filter keeps turning off, and the “Lehigh Valley” is not a location on their website. So, when you are trying to find a Lehigh Valley maker on Etsy, you literally have to know their municipality. A search for Bethlehem does not yield Bath results, even though they are like 5 miles apart.
We have found this to be an incredible impediment to finding local makers on Etsy. If you see a person selling things at a fair in Macungie, and you know they have an Etsy store, but forget their shop name (or, God forbid, spell it wrong), you then also need to guess the town where they live. Coopersburg? Macungie? Slatington? It’s impossible. It’s just impossible.
Finally, Etsy doesn’t allow their artisans to tag things that they are able to make. It only allows customers to search currentinventory. For example, if a vendor makes 3D printed hermit crab toys, and you want to buy one, searching Etsy for “3D Printed Hermit Crabs in Nazareth PA” doesn’t work if that vendor doesn’t have any hermit crabs for sale in their Etsy shop. If this example seems oddly specific, it’s because it actually happened to me. LOL
Privacy
Google favors companies with addresses. Many times, in order to be searchable, you must sign up for an”API” that gives your business a searchable location for everyone to find. Which is great, unless you want your physical location to be PRIVATE. Makers have a right to privacy, as they should. But Google doesn’t like that. And social media also doesn’t like that. (Editorial miff: How dare they set up the system to be so intrusive??)
At Made in the Lehigh Valley, we list everyone by the town where they create (eg. Northampton), but we don’t go any farther into their location unless they want to share it with their customers. The location is general. They make things… here! And that’s all the internet needs to know.
That said, they are still competing on the larger stage. So our website gives the makers the searchability they require, in combination with added SEO on Google and the major search engines, WITH the privacy makers are entitled to.
Manufacturers
Let’s talk about manufacturing for a sec. Many people see “makers” as just craftsmen and artists, but manufacturing companies and their employees are making things every day too, just on a larger scale! Surprisingly (to us, at least) it is pretty hard to find manufacturers too. Just ask any Lehigh Valley middle schooler who has participated in the “What’s So Cool About Manufacturing” competition– there’s no highly searchable customer-friendly list of manufacturers. You just have to find them one at a time. But really cool things are being made here! And as a person who likes to shop local, there is just as much value in buying things manufactured here as things that are handmade here.
Local goods require less transport, support local jobs, and they add to the social capital of our region (dare we say, pride?). I’ll write about my own experience with locally manufactured goods later. But for now, let’s talk about how easy it is to find manufactured products on Google. Actually, let’s just save time. It’s not easy. It’s downright impossible. SHOCKER.
How MiLV is Different
Made in the Lehigh Valley is a website and directory built with our region and makers at the center. We love the Lehigh Valley, and we want to support everyone making things here, from the largest manufacturer to the smallest-scale maker. Businesses pay a small monthly subscription fee to join, and they can exit and rejoin as they see fit. Their profiles are beautiful, thorough, curated, personalized, and tagged with keywords. They have the flexibility of working with a private, local company… not some tech company who just got rid of their entire customer service department.
Manufacturers can also enjoy a newfound market of customers who appreciate their products and the value of buying local. Manufacturer profiles can feature photos of their factories, products, and people, and humanize their business within the wider community.
Made in the Lehigh Valley is local. It is not global (though we do have fun ideas for working with our international sister cities at some point!!). Makers don’t need to compete with 500,000+ results for fine abstract art. They are in a regional community of fine artists, selling to their community who appreciates them. If the handmaker’s internet is a blizzard, Made in the Lehigh Valley is a warm bath.
The Lehigh Valley is something special. We’ve got thousands of people moving into our area every year, and our natives are STAYING (because we’re vibrant and we’re beautiful)! We’ve got all types of areas: A little bit city, a little bit rural, a little bit suburban. Drive-able distance to the big cities, thriving arts & culture scene, a nurturing business environment, and an impressive amount of manufacturing!
The population of the Lehigh Valley community is over 700,000 people (plus or minus). Of those, we estimate that around 14,000 are making things AND selling what they make. Do you want to support them? So do we.
But here’s the problem. When you search for these people on Google, they rarely come up. There are many reasons for this, but we’ll dive into that topic next time.
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Artistic epoxy/wood cutting boards, made by Lehigh Valley maker, 4Ever Lilys.
Lose-Lose: A Quick Hypothetical Scenario
Let’s say you’re at a vendor market and you find a lady who makes those trendy gorgeous ocean charcuterie boards, complete with seashells and foamy waves, and sometimes even sea plants. They’re around $90. You’re attending the market with your beloved aunt, who adores these boards, and wants to buy one, but decides against it because of the price. You both leave, and now you’re at home, thinking. Your aunt’s birthday is next week– wouldn’t one of those cutting boards make the BEST present??
So you take to Google. You want to find this cutting board lady again. But what should your search terms be?
“Charcuterie boards Lehigh Valley” –> Results: restaurant businesses who sell catered charcuterie arrangements. Great results here, but NOT what you’re looking for.
“Ocean cutting boards made near me” –> Blue Anchor Studio, Middleboro Massachusetts (and yes, Google location is turned on)
“Handmade ocean charcuterie boards Bethlehem PA” –> Facebook Marketplace, Charcuterie boards for sale in Stroudsburg
The final failed search results, before most customers would give up the fight and buy an import.
… in other words, with Google, you will NEVER find this lady. The artisan has lost the sale. And chances are, you’ll just go to Etsy and find a pretty board made by someone in another state or country, so your aunt will not have the opportunity to find a board handmade in the Lehigh Valley. This bit of detail might have made the gift even more special.
But to summarize, this scenario is a lose-lose.
This happens ALL. THE. TIME. Why do we assume that we will find the exact makers we need, at the exact moment we need them, when they’re only ever available at pop-up markets?? In the end, search engines like Google and even Etsy favor the highest ad bidders, and the lowest prices. They do not favor our Lehigh Valley neighbors. Etsy doesn’t even have “Lehigh Valley” as a location filter.
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Win-Win: A Better Option: A Regional Maker Directory
OK, let’s go back to this scenario. Craft fair… your aunt loves this ocean cutting board… now it’s her birthday. Got it.
You go home, and type “Handmade Cutting Boards Lehigh Valley” and the first search result is www.madeinthelehighvalley.com, and there are 5 makers! All verified local crafters, all selling ocean cutting boards. They are listed with portfolios/galleries. Some with personal sites, some with social media. ALL of them are available to learn about, easily.
Luckily, the woman who was at the fair has joined the directory. You contact her, do porch pickup, and your aunt has a great ocean cutting board that she loves.
WIN. WIN.
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Building a Maker Directory Helps our Micro Economy
The Fed gives their numbers every so often. Jobs are ____. Unemployment ____. Inflation ____. But our Lehigh Valley economy is more nuanced and personal than this.
Makers who sell their goods NEED to make more sales. It is literally their job. Buying from local makers isn’t just a nice sentimental thing to do. It literally helps your neighbors, family, friends, friends of friends. When the rubber meets the road, it supports our regional economy at its source. The people. And, if given the opportunity, we bet YOU would choose to buy something made in the area, over something that was imported. Unfortunately, finding the non-imports online is pretty impossible.
Allentown’s Laura Brady, Fine Artist
Lehigh Valley Author Thomas Lubben
Center Valley fashion designer, Lisa, of Remi Threadz
And here’s another thing. If you buy from a local maker, they are more likely to spend those dollars locally later on. The dollars circulate HERE instead of, well, there. If you buy from a national chain, or buy imports, less of that money goes back to our community. It’s like we’re literally bleeding dollars to other states and countries.
A regional directory of makers is a VALUABLE asset to the community– people AND the economy as a whole.
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The conclusion? Shop locally-made. And makers, join the directory today!!
Whether you live in the Lehigh Valley or you’re a tourist, or even if you have literally never been here before, please know that by supporting this website, you are supporting a culturally rich, beautiful community in Eastern PA, with tons of pride and heart. Before you shop Amazon, shop HERE. Thank you so so much for your support!
Are you a Lehigh Valley maker? Stop losing sales! By joining our directory, you are:
1) Adding yourself to a major growing community asset.
2) Creating valuable backlinks to all of your sites and socials, which improves your search engine rankings.
3) Letting a wider social media audience know about what you’re making.
I love shiny and blingy things, even though I rarely wear jewelry. Go Figure!
I’ve been beading for myself and friends for over 10 years. Now that I’m retired from the corporate world, I’ve decided to share my love of beads, gems and pearls and my one-of-a-kind pieces in my own little shop. I love kumihimo but dabble in all the many and varied beading techniques.
My items are simple, sometimes sparkly and are all crafted by me. However, I do love dragons so there are usually a dragon piece or two in my creations. You may wonder why my tumblers are less expensive than some other sellers. I am retired and choose to sell my tumblers for the cost of supplies and a very modest fee for labor. I just love blinging things!
I use only high quality glass rhinestones for my tumblers and FDA certified safe epoxy for the epoxy tumblers. I follow all the top cup makers in the USA and use many of their techniques and supply lines.
I will only create one of a design, so while some items may seem similar, there is something different about each one. Whether tumblers or jewelry, you are guaranteed to have an unique piece.
You can find one of my displays at the Lehigh Valley Mall, at Jennifer’s Unique Boutique.
I am a local seamstress and fiber artist creating one of a kind designs for women and children. I’ve been designing and creating for over 9 years.
My creations are a mix of designs made from new fabrics and designs made from rescued textiles such as pre-loved clothing, fabric remnants, and gifted notions from many sources locally.
I enjoy participating in markets, street fairs, pop up events, and Arts festivals around PA, NJ, CT, and DE.
I’m a mom to five adult children, 12 grandchildren, and many fur babies over the years.
I turn pre-loved garments into treasured keepsakes. Whether you have shirts from loved ones who’ve passed, special baby clothing/blankets, a blanket your pet used to use, etc. I can make them into pillows, bears, dogs, cats, and more!
A Memorial Bear made from a baby blanket, by Precious Mementos by Jenell
I started my business in 2017 and since then I’ve continuously sought more products to offer. I love doing what I do, each item I’ve made has a special place in my heart! Thank you for considering me to make your keepsake items!
To order a memorial item, please contact by e-mail: jenellwilibanks@gmail.com
Meadow & the moon LLC founded by Nicholas and Jessica Lebel. We offer 15+ years of construction and carpentry experience. Specializing in commercial and residential finish carpentry and woodworking services. All of our products are created using solid hardwood sourced locally and from surrounding areas. We also offer live edge furniture and live edge counter tops.
We make custom furniture, home decor, cutting boards, signs and gifts. We also offer wood furniture refinishing and repair, fireplace mantels and stone veneer services. Hardwood lumber supply and sales.
Creativity is at the center of everything I do and it all began with a big box of colorful Crayola crayons, which I got every year for Christmas along with the belief and encouragement that I could do whatever I wanted to. My love of art flourished over the years, leading to a formal degree from Moravian College.
I work in all media to create still lifes, landscapes and portraits, and abstract art. I also recently started to add my original works to mugs, tee shirts and other products, all of which can be seen and ordered from my Etsy shop. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions
I find the making of art in all its forms is nearest to my heart. Around 2010, I delved into learning a new artform by taking a metalsmithing class with a local instructor. I continue to expand my knowledge and skill through a variety on online instructors.
For me, jewelry making is a beautiful combination of serious craft and miniature art, and incorporates all the disciplines I can think of—art, design, chemistry, metallurgy, mathematics, geometry, and more. It is never dull or boring! I work in silver, copper, brass and aluminum for now, employing a number of processes that include engraving, texturing, and stone setting for color.
My handmade artisan jewelry makes great gifts for yourself and others. I have an ever-growing inventory of rings, bracelets, and necklaces and pendants. I also consider custom orders.
